NAB chief again shows 'no-trust' on CJP Iftikhar

ISLAMABAD: Submitting an intra-court appeal in his contempt of court case, NAB Chairman Admiral (r) Fasih Bukhari has once again expressed his mistrust over Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.

NAB chairman has filed the intra-court appeal under Section 19 (1) of the Contempt of Court Ordinance 2003 through his counsel Sardar Latif Khosa against Supreme Court's March 20 order of indicting him on April 2.

Bukhari said during the course of proceedings in various cases, he was directed to appear in person before the court several times. Three contempt notices were consequently issued against him and a petition filed against the mode of consultation for his appointment is still to be decided.

The NAB chairman recalled that in the middle of year 2012, he was informed by Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan that the chief justice wished to have a lawyer, Raja Amir Abbas, appointed in the legal branch of the National Accountability Bureau. "The respondent (chairman NAB) was not able to accommodate this wish because of adverse opinion on record in the bureau against Abbas," he added.

Bukhari contended that his inability to immediately accede to the chief justice's desire had incurred the latter's displeasure and precipitated the issuance of successive notices against him as well as officers working on the RPPs case.

The NAB chairman said that cardinal principles of administration of justice have been completely overlooked and eroded. "Therefore, the chief justice should have recused himself from the case when such voluminous evidence was reflecting his aversion for me," he added.

Bukhari said his reply in this case was not entertained on March 18. The hearings continued and the court decided to frame charges against on April 2, he said "These proceedings, with utmost respect, reflect an element of haste, which too does not allay the belief of the appellant that due process of law guaranteed as fundamental rights was perhaps not been followed," he added.

The chairman NAB said that it would be for the apex court to consider that whether the rule laid down in different cases as a parameter for independent investigation precludes interference and monitoring of investigations into criminal cases by the courts.

He questioned that whether the judges of the three-member bench had not ignored the golden rules established and enshrined by the superior courts around the world to allow un-obstructive flow of investigations for the collection of evidence and bringing to justice culprits involved in the commission of crimes.

"The structural edifice of the institutions can only be strengthened if allowed to work within the parameters of the law, shorn of repetitive interference which only breads frustrations, despondency and rather destructive of its very existence."

The chairman NAB has also contended that no contempt law exists in the country and the entire proceedings by the three-member bench are illegal, ab-initio void and corum non judice. Therefore, the court's March 20 order should be set aside, he maintained.

End.

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